Ah Jon -- there is some folk wisdom for you. You are right that an unripe persimmon will "turn your mouth inside out!" I was told that endlessly as a child, as there were persimmon trees around. (There is a puckered mouth face that goes along with the saying). But you can pick them and keep them until very soft and eventually they are as sweet in the mouth as they are to the nose. And I think freezing them helps that process. We need to Google this subject...

The Asian persimmons I see in grocery stores here have already gone thru that softening process and should taste about the same as our wild ones will eventually. They are much larger...

PS = THIS covers the subject nicely. When persimmons can be picked without destroying them they are not ripe. They achieve a texture like Jello when they are ripe. Read interesting article pls.

We "pick" those wild persimmons by collecting the ones that have fallen off the tree. Jean and Andrew made a persimmon-black walnut bread using black walnuts collected from the tree in our backyard (this year, we got enough rain to give lots of meat). Alas, despite Jean's inclusion of chocolate chips in one version, Andrew still refused to try any. Jean and I had a great tea time treat, though.

What everyone said. As a child growing up in the South, every kid sooner or later was dared to eat an unripe persimmon. "Turns your mouth inside out" was how we described it too.

My mother occasionally made persimmon bread and persimmon pudding, kinda like a bread pudding. And I remember an Aunt who used to make a candied persimmon kinda thing as well. Sort of apricot-y, but not quite.